It was a day of mixed feelings at Jamaica Bay, seeing some good birds and bugs, birding with good company, but seeing some disheartening things.
To start, I set out for the south end of the East Pond a bit before 7 A.M. Just after getting onto Cross Bay Blvd., I spotted an immature SANDHILL CRANE flying westward over the boulevard at a distance to the south. I got off a couple of pictures, then ran back to the parking lot to alert Andrew Baksh and Seth Ausebel, who were a bit behind me. Not possessing Brett Gardner speed, I didn't get there fast enough to get them on the bird. (We later debated whether I was obligated to run faster or it was their job to look up in the right place). The crane had turned northward and (from the parking lot) appeared to be heading for a landing around the West Pond. We were not able to find it. The three of us, joined by Bob Kurtz, then worked the south end and up the east side of the East Pond. If you understand that you're going to get wet, you can make it a good distance past the raunt. A problem not always mentioned is that with little shoreline, you can't avoid disturbing all the birds along the way. Be that as it may, we eventually found both HUDSONIAN GODWITS and 1 MARBLED GODWIT spending their morning on the west side of the pond, a good distance north of the raunt. No White Ibis to be seen. Both Marbled Godwits were later found at low tide on the bay, north of the dike. In the afternoon, we gave the north end a shot. Here you will have your feet in water the whole way and the only shorebirds are ones with long legs. One basic plumaged LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER was found among the Short-bills, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and numerous Stilt Sandpipers. The surprise sighting here was a BROAD-WINGED HAWK overhead. Yes, that's worth boldface at Jamaica Bay. Now the bad. We then went over to check the valve. It was closed at low tide, when water could have been running out of the pond. Andrew may have more on this. Meanwhile, NPS staff were observed turning butterfly habitat into lawn in the south field. Draw your own conclusions. A picture of the Sandhill Crane can be seen at http://www.hmana.org/steve/jbay0812.htm . This isn't the kind of picture I like to show off, so I added a few that I'm okay with - a Sandhill Crane seen another time under different circumstances, Marbled Godwit pix from today, and some moths that were enjoyed by the group today. One is the moth known as "The Asteroid", seen above the light over the back door. This is the second Jamaica Bay record (and since I've done extensive night time surveying, it does mean something to say that). The last picture is a scene of Ailanthus Webworm Moths, nectaring on goldenrod along the West Pond trail. Last thought. White Ibis yesterday. Sandhill Crane today. Sedge Wren tomorrow? Steve Walter Bayside, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
